Support Unclear For GOP's Plan To End Shutdown

NPR's business news begins with the latest on the deadlock here in Washington.

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GREENE: We've been following the story all this hour: House Republicans have been expected to announce their own plan to end the partial government shutdown and avert a default on the national debt. But House Speaker John Boehner came to the microphones a short while ago and kept things very vague.

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REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: There are a lot of opinions about what direction to go. There have been no decisions about what exactly we will do. But we're going to continue to work with our members on both sides of the aisle.

GREENE: Let's bring our congressional correspondent Tamara Keith in. Tam, when we spoke earlier this hour, you had said that there might not be enough Republican support for a plan that Boehner was coming up with. Is that what might have happened here?

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: That's exactly what it looks like happened. He went in with a plan. He came out with: We've got a lot of ideas, here. And that was basically the vibe I got from California Republican Darrell Issa. When he was exiting the meeting, I asked him what the support level was among House Republicans, and whether it was unanimous.

KEITH: At best. And there have been just a - House Republicans are really struggling with how to move forward, here.

GREENE: House Speaker John Boehner in a position that is becoming all too familiar. But let's just step back, if we can, Tamara. We had a Senate plan. There was talk of a bipartisan deal to avert the default on the debt and the government shutdown, or this Republican plan, maybe not enough support for it. Are we any closer to a compromise on these two issues today?

KEITH: The Senate is still moving forward, and there's this idea that sometimes it's darkest before the light. Sometimes when there's total chaos here in the capital and you don't know which way is up, ultimately, that leads to something emerging that will actually work. And this could be part of Boehner telling his members that they just have to go with Democratic support or go with the Senate plan.

GREENE: All right. We'll be following that story all day long on NPR News. That's our congressional correspondent, Tamara Keith. Thanks, Tamara.